Thanks to the potential legal dispute over the word “scout” the Boy Scouts of America is threatening the Hacker Scouts with, I now know that both the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the United States of America have national charters enacted in the U.S. Code.

The purposes of the corporation are—
(1) to promote the qualities of truth, loyalty, helpfulness, friendliness, courtesy, purity, kindness, obedience, cheerfulness, thriftiness, and kindred virtues among girls, as a preparation for their responsibilities in the home and for service to the community;
(2) to direct and coordinate the Girl Scout movement in the United States and territories and possessions of the United States; and
(3) to fix and maintain standards for the movement that will inspire the rising generation with the highest ideals of character, patriotism, conduct, and attainment.

The purposes of the corporation are to promote, through organization, and cooperation with other agencies, the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others, to train them in scoutcraft, and to teach them patriotism, courage, self-reliance, and kindred virtues, using the methods that were in common use by boy scouts on June 15, 1916.

Boys get patriotism, courage and self-reliance. Girls get patriotism, character, and attainment. Boys get doing things for themselves and others; girls get obedience, purity, courtesy, cheerfulness, etc. Hrmf. (On the other hand, the actual day to day activities and operations would seem to indicate that it’s the Boy Scouts who are more interested in rigidly conforming to gender roles and bowing to authority, regardless of what their respective charters say.)

Both organizations get special trademark rights, by law.

Girl Scouts: “The corporation has the exclusive right to use all emblems and badges, descriptive or designating marks, and words or phrases the corporation adopts, including the badge of the Girl Scouts, Incorporated, referred to in the Act of August 12, 1937 (ch. 590, 50 Stat. 623), and to authorize their use, during the life of the corporation, in connection with the manufacture, advertisement, and sale of equipment and merchandise. This section does not affect any vested rights.”

Boy Scouts: “The corporation has the exclusive right to use emblems, badges, descriptive or designating marks, and words or phrases the corporation adopts. This section does not affect any vested rights.”

But apparently the Boy Scouts believe that this gives them exclusive use of the word “Scouts” (with an exception for the Girl Scouts, I suppose). Or maybe it’s just that they believe that the skills built by the Hacker Scouts are something that only boys need or want, so it should fall under their organization. I don’t know. I do know that I haven’t heard anything about the Girl Scouts asserting their right to the word. Maybe that’s because they’re so obedient and courteous.

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The really critical difference to me, a girl, is that girls are to learn “obedience”, while boys are to gain “the ability of boys to do things for themselves and others”.